The Maze of Time Part 1: Second Chances
by Aboredwriter
Summary: It has been three years since the end of the Meterex War, but now an even more deadly threat has risen out of the fabric of time itself. The friends must unite to face this danger, or fall. Rated T for violence and some language. Yet another chapter is up
1. Summary and Prologue

Summary:

It has been three years since the end of the Meterex War. Over that time the Sonic Team has drifted apart. Though most of them still keep in touch, they don't see each other often, and some they don't see at all. However, events are slowly bringing the friends back together, just as they are building up to another turning point, like the one three years ago. It is a second chance for the darkness to conquer the world, but it is also a second chance for the heroes to regain the costs of their past effort. This is the reunion of the Sonic Team and the beginning of a war even more terrible than the last. Peace and freedom or absolute destruction? The choice will be made.....

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OK this is my first fanfiction so this might be terrible, or it might actually be fun to read. A couple of things that I have to say before you start. First, if I get no reviews or all negative reviews, this thing is going to take an extended leave of absence to the trash. Second, flames are accepted, but ONLY if you actually have something to flame me about. And third, please give me some criticism. I want to know what I do wrong, so even if its a little thing like punctuation (I'm notorious for missing commas) tell me in a review. Also tell me what you think of the story line, and if I got all the characters right. So when your done review, or I will send Amy after you! (Mwhahaha!) BTW read the summary again very carefully. Anyone who can find the secret hint and guess correctly what the heroes can "regain" gets cookies!

Alright time for this disclaimer thingie: I do not own Shadow :( Sonic, or the Typhoon. All that belongs to Sega and the Sonic team people. (I will do one of these every chapter as more people join the story.)

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Prologue - Chaos Control

I was surrounded by light. Apparently Tails had misjudged the power of two super hedgehogs crashing into Dark Oak's planet form at speeds much faster than sound. The explosion was growing to fast for us to spindash out. Luckily that was easy to get around. With a quick mental shout of _chaos control_ I felt the familiar sensation of being ripped out of time and hurled through space. Then I was viewing the explosion I had just been at the core of from a safe distance. Floating in space beside me was Super Sonic. I turned my head toward him and inclined it slightly, the only answer he needed to his unspoken question.

I summoned up my energy yet again and together we yelled "CHAOS REGENERATION!!!!!!" and hurled balls of pure energy back in the direction from which we came. I waited a second to see the result, hoping for the best but knowing that the worst was probably true. I wasn't wrong. Suddenly we got a frantic message from the Doctors ship, warning us that the energy buildup had grown too powerful, and that in a moment it would explode outward, destroying both our ships. Sonic, having come to the same conclusion as I, began to charge up chaos control.

"CHAOS-

Suddenly I knew what I had to do. Before Sonic could complete his sentence, I spun around and punched him in the gut with enough force to immobilize him for a few seconds.

All he had time for was to gasp my name in surprise "Sha… Shadow"

I pushed him through space toward the Typhoon spending just enough time to call an apology out to him. "Don't be angry, I didn't have any other choice. I can't risk letting you stop the explosion."

I knew he had heard me but I didn't have any more time. As I removed my inhibitor rings my full power was released. It felt great to have them off again, but I could sense that the egg was about to blow. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Time froze around me and as I was yanked into the explosion, its huge power frozen harmlessly around me_. _

_ I have to find that egg NOW._

My time was running out. I could feel the extreme heat coming back, and I still hadn't found that damn egg. Ah there it was. I quickly launched myself at it, but I could already tell I would be too late.

_ Shit! I'm not going to make it! NO! I HAVE to stop this! For Maria…_

I instantly knew that the last thought had come from the part of my mind I still couldn't access. I knew from what some of the others had said and from the faint, blurred feelings I had left from that period of my history that Maria had been a good friend, just as I knew now that she would want me to do this.

Suddenly I felt a power that I never knew existed. It was like an infinite ocean, and despite the deadly situation I was in I couldn't help but let out an exhilarated laugh. I channeled this new strength into my chaos control and I felt, more that saw, it stabilize. With another laugh I blasted straight at the egg, and as my hand touched it I released the chaos control for just a second. That was almost too much. The egg's shell, already cracked, couldn't hold out any longer. As my vision was filled with white light I focused my whole mind on one word…

_ Away_

"CHAOS CONTROL!!"

And then time was frozen again to all except myself. I felt the egg traveling beside me, but the light had blinded me the instant it had appeared. I knew one thing for certain though. If I was still here when the teleport ended I would die. Not even the power of the emeralds could protect me from this.

_ Just because I volunteered for this doesn't mean I intend to die out here…_

No I was defiantly NOT going to die now. There was no way I was going to let that faker outlast me. Besides, without me they would probably end up getting themselves killed if something like the Meterex ever showed its ugly head. I thought of possible places to teleport to so I could get away from this accursed egg. The list wasn't very big. I didn't have enough power left to get back to Mobius or even back to the Typhoon, and since I couldn't teleport somewhere I hadn't been, as I might end up stuck inside something solid, the list was basically empty. There was only one thing left to do, and though I probably wouldn't have enough power to pull it off, it was try or die.

_ Safety_

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

And after that I remembered no more.

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So how did you like it? Go tell me in a review because if you don't.... well Amy is waiting! *does evil grin* Bye!


	2. Chapter 1: A Warrior and a Devil

I'M BAAAAAAACK! Just so you know guys if I ever update on a Wednesday, consider it a miracle. Wednesdays I have a paper route in the morning then breakfast, school, gym, music lesson, (I play keyboard) and then I hang out at my youth group. So that is not a good day for writing at all. OK enough of my complaining here is the next chapter, with LOTS more action and suspense (cliffhanger FTW)

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters, they are property of SEGA and Sonic Team. Special thanks to Tomoko-Tottori from deviant art for letting me use Cassy. All i own are the freaky evil guy and my ideas.

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Chapter 1 - A Warrior and a Devil

"Do these guys ever give up!?!"

I ducked as another bullet whistled past my ear, then glanced over at the source of the shout. My partner on this mission, a hedgehog female named Cassy, was pinned down as I was behind the cop car we had commandeered to get here.

"Just shut up and cover me…"

I could see her glance over at me preparing to ask what I thought I was going to do, but before she could say anything I had already stood up and taken aim. Two quick shots and it was again silent. Moving quickly, I ran to the museum doorway in which they had been taking cover, and looked around for the bodies. I found them both lying with bullets to the head and their guns a few feet away. I gave the all clear sign and in a moment Cassy was kneeling down to check the pockets for any I.D. while I kept my gun ready to fire on the first thing that moved in the currently silent street.

"Hmmm…. I don't see any kind of- WHAT THE HELL?"

A quick 180 degree turn and glance around show no targets of any kind, and for a moment I wondered what she had shouted for, but then I saw what was going on. The only way to describe it was to say that the bodies were _disintegrating_. In less than two seconds all that remained was a swirling, dark mist, which promptly wafted away into the night.

"Strange… there's no wind, so did it fly away?"

My only response to her comment was a short glare in her general direction, before walking off down the street.

"Where are you going? The car is over here!"

I stopped for long enough to respond. "In case you hadn't noticed, both wheels on the left side are shot full of holes. It would be faster to walk"

With that said I turned on my heel and continued on, the sound of footsteps telling me that Cassy had decided to follow. This had been going on since we had first started this damned mission. Whoever set me up with this rookie was going to get it, and I had a pretty good idea who it had been. Sticking me with the only female hedgehog in the whole corps was my commanders way of telling me to lighten up and get out more. I glanced over momentarily debating whether or not to confirm my suspicions, but decided against it. She was wearing the black uniform of the special forces, which, when issued one after signing up, I had refused adamantly. There was no way I was going to go around looking like _that_. Other than that she looked like any other hedgehog, with yellow fur and brown quills, that for some completely unfathomable reason had blue tips. All in all she was the kind of girl that_ some_ people would call, what was it now? Ah yes "sexy". At that point a very clear picture of my commander, a bear about 19 or 20 came to mind. I mentally sighed, exasperated with my bad luck, then remembered the guy we had run into a ways back.

_Oh well, at least she can shoot_

I sensed what was going to happen a moment before it did. As we reached a three way intersection, fire opened from both sides of the cross street and the restaurant in front of us. Moving at almost the same time as they fired I homing attacked the tall office building to our left, held on for a second, then used a triangle jump to get to the second story wall of the restaurant. Executing a back flip of the wall, I gave the human men I landed in front of time only to stare at me for a second in shock, then I pulled out a shotgun and killed them both in one shot. A second later Cassy was across the street and behind the cover of the outdoor tables like I was. For the 23rd time today bullets were flying at me from all directions, kept from embedding themselves into my flesh by a thin barrier.

_How do I get myself into these situations…_

_Flashback_:

_I awoke to the sound of birds chirping. The surface I was lying on was bumpy, and through the fur on my back I could feel something that seemed to be grass. I felt dizziness hit me as I tried to sit up, so I immediately gave up on that for a minute. I had no idea where I was or who I was. I tried to remember but that only made my already considerable headache worse. Finally, I decided I could gain nothing more from lying on the ground so I sat up. After a moment my eyes adjusted and I looked around. I was lying in the middle of a forest at sometime around mid-morning. Judging by my surroundings, whatever planet I was on was in late spring. As I stood up and took a step, I nearly fell back down again, partly because my balance was horrible at the moment; something must have messed up my inner ear, and partly because I had stepped on something about the size of my fist and harder that a rock. I bent down to examine it. It appeared to be a sort of gem, green in color and glowing with some sort of energy. I reached to pick up the "chaos emerald", or at least that's what my mind said it was, but as I touched it I froze in shock. Images came shooting back to me, fighting the Metarex, chasing Cosmo and Tails through the Typhoon, the final battle, all that chaos controlling…._

It worked!

_A small smile of victory crossed my face, but then I reverted to my usual impenetrable emotional barrier. Business first. I felt around in the grass and leaves for my inhibitor rings and the other chaos emeralds. Within about five minutes I found all of them. Before anyone could see, I hid the emeralds from view and put on my bracelets. For a moment I closed my eyes and stood in silence. My ears suddenly twitched in the direction of a faint sound, at least a sound other than those birds, the infernal pests. I debated weather or not just to chaos control my way in that direction till I found something, but decided against it seeing as I would just end up even more exhausted than I already was. Already sick of this forest and its birds, who seemed to have nothing to do but sit there giving me even more of a headache, I began to skate at a quick pace through the trees._

I shook my head. Three years seemed like such a long time ago. I remembered how I had wandered around for most of the day till I found a trail, then sleept under a tree till morning. After that I had followed the trail till I came to this city. Completely broke, exhausted, and starving I looked for something to do. Eventually, while in a rare helpful mood, I signed up to join Special Forces.

_How stupid could I have been? Its been nothing but one mission after another ever since they saw my combat abilities._

At least I hadn't shown them my chaos control. They probably would have gone crazy and just fired all the other agents so they could give me every single mission that came up.

"Shadow are you going to do something or what!?"

Shaken out of my memories by her shout, I rolled my eyes then turned and shot the guy on her side in the head next time he came up, watching just long enough to see him morph into smoke like the rest. As I turned toward the guy on my side I caught a glimpse his face as he ducked back behind shelter. Suddenly, I knew that something wasn't right about the guy, but I'd have to figure that out later because he was now shooting back with spirit. I dodged behind a different table, as my old one was being rapidly dismantled by one of the most effective tools: a machine gun. Before I could retaliate however, he fell down with holes in his head, heart and left right arm.

"Forgot about me?"

"Hmph. My amnesia isn't _that_ bad."

She stared at me for a moment and then, to my extreme annoyance, she burst out laughing.

"What now??!"

"HAHAHA, Shadow you just made a joke and you didn't even realize it!"

I sent her a glare that could scare death itself, but to my surprise she kept on chuckling and ignored me completely.

"ENOUGH! Lets move!"

"Yes, sir!"

_Rrgg that mock salute is getting really annoying…_

I got control of my anger quickly enough. If it hadn't been so late I wouldn't have had such a short temper, but I had been awake for over 24 hours now and it was really killing my mood.

Then an explosion rent the temporary silence of the night, and I watched in shock as a 30 story high office building collapsed, spewing rubble across the street ahead of us. A cold and completely insane laugh came from above us, and I looked up to see another human floating in mid air about 15 stories up. When I saw his face, I knew what my subconscious mind had been telling me a moment before. _They were copies! Every single damn one of them!_ Somehow this guy above us had created multiple copies of himself, armed them with guns, and sent them after us. Well, at least that explained the mist.

"Well well well, if it isn't Shadow the Hedgehog." He laughed again in the same high-pitched, manic way. "Look what I'm doing to your precious town!" I watched in shock as he fired a bolt of the same swirling energy the clones had become, except this was solid, and was _much_ more dangerous. I hit the ground a moment before the bolt hit the restaurant behind us, blasting it to shreds instantly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cassy on the ground a few feet away. I didn't have time to check her condition, as the strange man had begun charging up another, more powerful attack to destroy the building across the street, laughing madly all the time.

"Oh no you don't!" I growled as I stood up. Then, letting old reflexes embedded into my brain during combat training on the ARK take over, I snapped my fingers, teleporting myself between him and the building. The residual energy of chaos control held me in the air long enough for my air shoes to kick in. His expression became surprised, and for a moment he was silent. But only for a moment.

"HAH! You think that your puny powers can stop me? Then be my guest, I'll send you strait to the underworld!" And with that he fired.

Holding my hands out in front of me palms forward, and letting my subconscious mind dictate my actions, I yelled. "CHAOS BEAM!"

As swirling cylinder of purple and black energy shot out of his hands, a pure, golden beam of light launched from mine. Halfway to their respective targets, the attacks met with a blinding flash. Insane laughter was again coming from the other side of the glare, meanwhile I was silent, concentrating. While his blast was nearing its energy limits, mine was drawing power from one of the seven emeralds I always carried on my person. I drained more power from the gems, charging my beam to the point where it could have annihilated a whole block, and still I couldn't even sense a dent in my supply. A triumphant smirk was slowly appearing on my face, while the laughter had long since died out.

Finally both of our blasts had died out, his because of energy loss and mine because I had no intention of letting anything else get damaged.

"Im-impossible!" Suddenly energy swirled around him again and he straitened up, refreshed. Both of us floated down and landed, I stood again on the street while he touched down on the rubble pile. Suddenly he held both hands out preparing to attack me a second time. "It makes no difference! Now you will DIE!"

I simply crossed my arms and smiled "That's what _you_ think!"

A moment before it was launched, I knew what his offensive would be. Small balls of energy went flying at me at near light speed, while, without moving a single muscle, I dodged them all by flickering in and out of chaos control. As the last attack, a strong one this time, hit right where I had been a moment before, I appeared behind him, executed a backflip kick, chaos controlled to just above him, and fired a chaos spear, hitting him in the left side. I watched in satisfaction as the shockwave hurled him into the adjacent building.

I floated lower on my air shoes to inspect the hole he had made in the side, and wasn't very surprised to find that he had drilled through most of it.

With another snap of my fingers I reappeared on the ground next to Cassy, who had been sanding there watching the whole fight with the same awed stare she had now. However, before I could open my mouth to give her strict orders to keep hers shut about this I heard another laugh behind me.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Suddenly more dark energy swirled around the building, imploding it and causing a miniature earthquake. This was the last straw. I felt pure chaos energy moving through me to my fur, ready to explode outward destroying everything in it's way, which would hopefully include that asshole who refused to do everyone a favor and _die._

"SHADOW?? What's going on?!" My anger quickly subsided, and I realized what I had almost done.

_Shit I could have destroyed this whole city!_

I would have time to berate myself later, but now I had to fight. With a thought I conjured the seven Chaos Emeralds in a circle around me. They spun faster and faster as I pulled more positive energy from them. "HRAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Lifted off my feet by the sheer _power_ of the emeralds I watched my fur turn golden, and felt my spikes rise behind me. It was bliss. Even gravity couldn't hold me back! "Hmph. NOW your going on a one way teleport to hell!!"

With that said, I attacked. Launching through the air towards him, but at the last second transporting behind him, I extended my legs to kick him… and found myself ramming into an impenetrable shield of energy. Before he could attack me I chaos controlled away from him, but that didn't help much. Tendrils of pure, deadly power came flying at me, extended from my foes body like tentacles. As one past a streetlamp it brushed the top of it, instantly vaporizing the lamp on contact.

_Shit._

I had only one choice: do what he would least expect. I turned, flying as fast as I could straight at him, time seeming to slow around me, though it didn't really. It was an illusion created by lightning quick reactions. As I entered the tendrils they converged on me, but before they could crush me I was suddenly above and them coming strait down toward my enemy. In a flash the tendrils were closing again, but I had expected that. I dodged his feeble efforts and chaos controlled behind him, my fist infused with all my energy that I didn't need to keep flying.

By the time my fist connected he was already halfway turned again. It didn't matter: it was too late. As I connected he hurtled away through the air, flying limply toward a skyscraper.

_I'm not done with you yet! Chaos control!_

Then I was behind him. and without even knowing what I was doing I opened a portal to nowhere. Actually all I did was create a portal without setting an end point, so it should go to nowhere. Or at least, that was my theory: I had never tried it before. He fell silently into the portal and vanished without a trace.

I allowed myself to float to the ground, and let the remaining energy run out of my body and into the emeralds, which fell to the ground around me. I jumped up and spun around despite my exhaustion when a loud bang came from behind me. I watched in silence as the area where the portal had been was distorted, like rising heat would blur anything seen through it.

Then for a moment I sensed something that made even my blood chill: an area of absolute nothingness that somehow managed to contain all of time. It was mind boggling, and even the brief brush with it that I had left me disoriented and confused for a moment. I had no doubt that extended exposure would cause insanity to any being.

_At least any being from this dimension._

I had no idea where that thought had come from so I shoved it aside.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!?"

The loud voice was accompanied by the once distorted area exploding into a portal; bolts on negative energy surrounding it. Then the man reappeared looking even angrier than before, but I saw something under his anger. _Fear._ I didn't know how I knew, but for him, that place was worse than death.

"You will pay for sending me to the Maze! But this just proves what I knew all along, you are weak! You do not have the power to ensnare me there for more than a minute! If my master didn't need you alive I would kill you now, sadly that is not the case. However, I have no such barrier between me and your old friends… I think I'll kill that blue one first…"

"WHAT??! Get back here you!" I called angrily, for at that moment he vanished into a dark mist.

Quickly I drew enough power from the chaos emeralds to transform into Super Shadow, and began powering up chaos control.

"Hey Shadow wait what are you doing?"

But Cassy's shouts were in vain because at that moment I had vanished.

_Wait what was that? Did something just…touch me? Damn._

I glanced back and my fears were confirmed. At the moment I chaos controlled, Cassy had touched my shoulder, so instead of being frozen near me, she had been taken out of time too. Before I could do anything, we were hurled through space toward Mobius.

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*sigh* poor Shadow isn't gonna get any peace... This story is gonna end up being something like adventure/suspense/sci-fi/supernatural/frendship/ and I don't know WHAT else. OK I think I'm gonna go collapse now.... apfjkasdfjasdpgjaspd (me falling asleep at my desk)


	3. Chapter 2: A Blur of Memories

Hello again readers. I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner, but first I got buried in an avalanche of school work, then I got invited to two of my friends houses to hang out all day,(I'm not going to miss hanging out with my friends just to write this) and then I caught the blasted flu. However, I'm just about over it now and I have the time to write again so here is another chapter.

Whatsit: I do not own any Sonic characters or places. They are the property of SEGA. Cassy belongs to Tomoko-Tottori on deviant art. All I own is my plot and my evil dude. I don't even own the base: it belongs to Sonic. (well it does!)

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Chapter 2 - A Blur of Memories

"So what are you waiting for? Buy our new-"

Static filled the room as I switched channels on the large TV in front of me. Eventually, I gave up hope that they would actually show anything interesting today and just shut the whole set down. I sighed aloud, then, just for something to do, I ran around the island three times at top speed, returning to the living room in less than a second.

_If only something would _happen!

I threw myself down on the couch, forcing my body to stay still.

_Peace is all well and good, but this is getting _ridiculous!_ Did all the villains in the universe get heart attacks or something??_

Ever since the War, my life had gotten increasingly dull, until now it had reached the point where I could hardly stand it. In fact, there had been no sign of any action whatsoever for the past month and a half.

_Ah well, its probably a good thing, since we are down one third of the Team._

A better way to put that would probably be that we were missing one person. I sighed again, thinking of all the events that had happened since Dark Oak died, and how my former team had been reduced to me, Tails, and Knuckles.

"_Hey Soooonic! Come back here!!"_

"_Wha-"_

_I skidded to a complete stop at the familiar voice from behind me. I looked around, seeing my guess had been right on as usual when a small form dropped out of the dark sky._

"_Bokkun? What do you want?"_

"_Well there is no need to be so rude Sonic, I only came to give you a message."_

"_Yea, I figured you didn't drop by to check on my health…"_

"_Hmph"_

_I watched as the little robot in front of pouted angrily and pulled a small, yellow TV out of his bag. Like any sane person would do, I took a few steps back and got ready to run before the message ended. Seeing my movement, and knowing exactly what I was doing, Bokkun glared at me again, then flew away. Turning, I glanced at the TV just in time for the message to start._

"_Why hello there Sonic! How are you doing?"_

"_Well… I _was_ bored, but I'm feeling much better now that I know I get to kick your rear again."_

" _Now now Sonic, you shouldn't get overconfident. I was just calling to ask if you recognize this… Heh heh heh…_

_I watched as Eggman reached for something off the screen. Knowing him it was probably a picture of one of his robots going to trash Station Square for the umpteenth time. However, it was immediately apparent that I was wrong. I froze as he held up a familiar hammer… too familiar._

" _Alright Egghead, What have you done to her?!"_

"_Now Sonic you shouldn't lose your temper, she's just fine… NOT!"_

_The picture switched to a cell cam from somewhere inside Eggman's base. Around Amy's cell were about ten of Eggman's best robots, and the bars were charged with electricity and connected by a force field. Inside was what really caught my attention though. Amy was lying limply on her side, here forehead and side caked with dry blood. From my view I could see she was barely breathing, but before I could see anything else Eggman came back on the screen, a fake expression of sadness on his face._

"_I wouldn't have hurt her, but she pulled out her hammer and attacked! Before I could stop them my robots attacked to save my life. Then-"_

"_SHUT UP!!"_

_I could see him staring at me in shock, but my anger was now out of control. He cut the transmission with a terrified look on his face, but before the TV could explode I blasted it into the air._

"_He… will… pay!!"_

After that everything had been a blur. I ended up rescuing Amy, but not before I nearly beat Eggman to death. I shivered, thinking of what my dark form could do if I ever lost control again. That fear had been the main reason I had proceeded to kick all the girls off the team, and now that Tails had vanished again, we were more vulnerable than at any other time.

Before I could stop them, my thoughts wandered to Tails. The kit just hadn't been the same since the War. It was like he had aged _years_. Most of the time he was his usual self, but around this time of year he couldn't help becoming depressed. The kid was getting good at hiding his true emotions from us, but I could still tell when he was faking. Eventually, he would just vanish for the week of the anniversary, locked up in his large mansion in the Mystic Ruins, like he was now.

_Oh well… he will be back to normal in three days or so... I hope  
_

I remembered the one time I had tried to pay him a visit.

_Knock knock knock_

_The sound rang through the evening silence. _

"_Hey Tails its me, Sonic! Open up!_

_I jumped back in surprise as the door swung open soundlessly. _

"_Follow the light Sonic."_

_The faint voice had come from deep inside the mansion. Confused as to who had opened the door, I quickly realized that Tails had rigged it to unseal at a command from a remote. I stepped inside, and couldn't help but be a little creeped. As the door closed behind me, it cut off the only real light, but my eyes quickly adjusted enough to look around. Everything around me was covered by thick layers of dust. All the furniture was covered in sheets, and the widows had triple thick curtains hanging in front of them. The only light came dimly from deeper in the huge house._

I guess he must only be using the rooms he needs, and just leaving the rest alone.

_Turning toward the dim glow I dashed through the house, though only at a tiny portion of my real speed. In seconds I was in a lighted room, a kitchen I quickly realized. _

"_Hey Tails!"_

"_Hello Sonic."_

_His voice was quieter than usual, like he was exhausted after a long day of work_

"_I was stopping by to see if you wanted to go to a party the Pres invited us all to."_

_He didn't even glance up at my comment, only sat there staring at the wall. "No"_

"_Well then, how about you come over to the base and hang out with me and Knucklehead?"_

_As before, he didn't make any sign that he had heard me. After a minute or so he slowly shook his head once._

"_C'mon Tails, I'm gonna die of boredom if I don't do something soon!" To prove my point I ran around the inside of the house for about two seconds, thus passing through every room about five times. As with my other attempts, I received no reaction._

_I sighed in exasperation, then tried again to cheer my buddy up. "Tails if you don't come, I'll have to go and meet Amy… PLEASE HELP!_

_That time I got a response, but it was only a weak smile and a grunt that sounded vaguely like laughter._

"_Seriously Tails, what do you want me to do??"_

"_I'm sorry Sonic, but there isn't really anything you _can_ do. I just need time alone so I can think."_

_I nodded, understanding what he meant. Sometimes I felt the same way about my problems with my darker side. A smile crossed his face, genuine this time. I grinned back and then I was gone, leaving behind only a sonic boom and a blur._

After that visit, I decided to respect his wish and leave him alone. If spending some time by himself helped, then I wasn't going to get in the way.

I jumped as a clap of thunder rang out over Angel Island, followed almost immediately by the patter of rain on the window.

_Great… can this get any worse?_

Suddenly a long alarm rang through our base, accompanied by the computer's voice.

"**Warning, anomaly detected. This is not a drill."**

_It just did. Well, now I have something to do at least._

I jump up from the couch and grabbed the TV remote, tapping a pattern onto the case. Suddenly the room was transformed. Pictures became computer screens, a small side table became a fully operational radar, and the coffee table projected a 3-d hologram of the surrounding area.. I glanced at the TV, which was now running a program to see if there was anything about what was happening on the news. There wasn't

Standing surrounded by my best friend's inventions, I smiled, and for a moment I was filled with pride at what my little bro could do, but was interrupted by the computer flashing insistently. I ran over to the main unit and turned it on.

"This had better not be a false alarm like last time… OK, what have you found?"

"**I have detected a warp in time and space, very similar to a chaos control portal."**

"And you put this place on alert why?"

"**Something came out of the portal and is approaching our current location. The portal appeared at the same altitude as this island, and whatever came out of it can defy gravity."**

"So someone teleported a plane or something here?"

"**Negative. Whatever it is, it is not mechanical."**

"Knowing you, its probably a malfunctioning radar and a pigeon or something."

"**Well sir, the pigeon has landed, and it's a pretty big pigeon."**

"Oh boy, here we go again." Before the computer could say anything else, I was out the door and on my way to the Shrine to find Knuckles.

* * *

Yea yea, Tails is OOC. Bite me. I promise it won't last though. Also, when Sonic freaks about staying away from Amy thats just him trying to be funny. sonamy fans don't kill me. XD Anyway this is mainly a recount of what happened to the Sonic Team after Sonic X. The next Chapter will be up soon as I'm already partly done writing it. Well I'll see you soon. Next update will probably be on Thursday.


	4. Chapter 3: Scion of Darkness

Hi again to anyone who is still reading these notes! As for the people that don't, its time to get their attention. READ THIS NOTE!! THERE IS IMPORTANT STUFF HERE!!! There that should be eye catching enough right? OK! On with the announcements! Gosh now I sound like someone on TV…

Anyway here is what I have to say…

ONE: If you are reading this and have not watched Sonic X, then go watch it now. It will make things a lot clearer. You only really need to watch season three, but watch both English and subbed Japanese versions on the last two episodes.

TWO: I am horrid at making names, so if you want you can suggest names for this bad guy! If I find one I really like then I will use it, but you won't find out what I chose till later.

THREE: After I am done with part one of this story there will be a gap between this and two, as I need to "fine tune" some of the storyline. While I am doing that I will have time to post a short story on what happened directly after the Team got home, if it will clear stuff up. Just put your vote in a review and if I get a lot of yes answers then I will write it up.

FOUR: This story is currently planned to have 9 chapters _including_ the prologue and epilogue. Chapter Six (Story chapter five) is undergoing slight difficulties, but chapters 7 and 8 are basically written already. All that is needed there is a little proofreading and a few modifications. The epilogue is a problem, since I am having trouble with the dialogue, but the chapter won't be very big so the problem is minimal.

Alright now that I have talked your ears off, I'll get on with the story…

Umm what did you say this was again??: I do not own any Sonic characters or locations, they are property of SEGA, and I am not using them for profit. Cassy is the property of Tomoko-Tottori on Deviant ART, and the bad guys are property of me.

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Chapter 3 - Scion of Darkness

The unusually loud thunderclap triggered an old reflex that I had had since I had trained to be Guardian. As the loud sound woke me from my sleep, I was already on my feet in a fighting position. In a second, I realized what it had been and lowered my guard, glancing at the torrential rain that was already falling all around me.

_I'm sure glad Tails sent those 'bots over here to restore the Emerald Shrine, or I would be soaked._

Smiling slightly at the impotent rain, I lay back down with my back against the Master Emerald and closed my eyes, intending to go back to sleep.

"HEY KNUX! Wake up!"

I rolled my eyes behind their lids; apparently the world just wasn't going to let me get any rest today.

"What Sonic? If your about to tell me some new stupid plan that you made up just for something to do, your going to be very sorry, cause I still remember what happened _last_ time…"

As I made that statement I stood up and glared at my ever annoying friend.

"Nah, its not me." He was speaking his usual nonchalant voice, so whatever it was, it couldn't be that bad. "The base computer just told me something about the size of a man came out of a portal, then flew over to the island and landed here."

"WHAT??" Now I was mad. Couldn't Sonic see what that could mean? If this intruder could create portals and fly they could be very powerful indeed! "WHY DIDN'T YOU-" I stopped in mid-sentence when I noticed Sonic was staring at something over my shoulder.

_Oh no, whoever it is or _whatever_ it is has got to be behind me…_

I turned toward the middle of the island, and sure enough there was a man in a black outfit standing on the top of the mountain in the center of Angel Island.

"What do you think your doing here on my island?!" My shout caused him to glace down at us, then he began to laugh. The unearthly noise made all the hair along my neck stand strait up, a look at Sonic told me it had creeped him out too.

"Why, to kill you both of course!! HAHAHAHA!"

"How about you come down here and try!?" His only reaction to my challenge was to laugh harder.

"Alright, you pissed me off whoever you are, and its time to face the consequences!"

"Knux, I'll get him first. When I start running, turn to the right and head for the edge of the island."

"Got it." I nodded to my friend, but before I had even moved he was off. I started running immediately, and reached the edge just in time to see what Sonic had done. Instead of going strait at the guy, he had run around the mountain at top speed, and came at the man from the side.

It worked. Before the man had any time to react, Sonics spindash hit him so hard he went flying… right towards me.

"Heh heh heh, now you going to get what's coming to you!" As his body was about to hit me, I grabbed it, then began swinging round as fast as I could, releasing him into thin air. I watched as his body passed into a cloud and out of sight.

"HAH! That'll teach him to mess with us, right Knux?" I looked at Sonic, who had just ran up beside me in time to see the guy fall. Something he had said earlier was nagging at the back of my head, telling me something was very wrong. Suddenly, I knew what it was.

"Wait a minute Sonic… didn't you say he could…" I turned my head back toward the cloud as the man floated unsupported out of it. "…fly."

'Did you fools really think that would harm me??" He was laughing like a manic again, and it was really getting on my nerves. Well, that and all his insults. "I'm disappointed. I thought the legendary heroes who saved the galaxy would be a little… tougher."

"Alright asshole! You want tough, I'll give you tough!" Again nothing but laughter in response. He slowly floated over our heads and landed behind us a few feet away. By now I was getting really mad, but I kept it under control, something I wouldn't have been able to do years ago. I smiled back at him, then started chuckling. "If you think you can get me to lose control that easily, then your dumber than I thought."

"Good! This might get interesting after all!" A wicked grin crossed his face, and he launched himself at me around the speeds Sonic seemed to constantly be at. Unfortunately for him, I had been training more than my self-control. I easily bent out of the way of his first punches, then swung my whole body forward to deliver a punch of my own. My fist connected with his gut so hard that it should have sent him flying, but he only stumbled back a few steps.

_He's strong! Oh well, that's enough of an opening. All I have to do is punch harder._

And that is exactly what I did. I was on him in an instant, punching through every opening, and dodging all of his return attacks. Finally, I put every bit of strength I had into one uppercut, which launched him into the air. Just as he recovered, Sonic came out of nowhere at about mach 3. The result was a large hole in the side of the mountain.

"Ha! You can't beat us!"

"You stupid arrogant hedgehog! Your power is nothing compared to me!"

_What!? He is alive??_

Sonic and I could only stare speechlessly at the seemingly unharmed man. Before I could move he was gone. I froze as a hand touched the back of my head.

"You fought well. Your reward will be a quick death." I tried to turn and hit him or dodge the attack, but it was already to late.

Everything was a blur. I vaguely realized, as if I was a spectator watching from far away, that I had come to a stop with my back to a tree. I tried to stand, to lift a hand, to _move_, but I couldn't get a reaction out of my battered body. Suddenly, I noticed that my eyes were closed. Putting all my effort into it, I managed to open them up, only to see a large green blur. No, it wasn't all green, there was a blue spot and a black spot, moving too fast for me to focus on. I watched as the blue spot stopped. It seemed to get closer to me.

"Knuckles??"

I heard the voice from miles away, not feet. Some part of my brain registered that my body was being shaken. I knew my friend was trying to get me to respond, but I simply didn't have the strength anymore. Then the blue spot was black, but it wasn't the same black of the man. It was the black that results from pure darkness, in a place devoid of light. Then they were at it again, for what seemed like hours.

The last thing I saw was a flash of brilliant gold, and the last I felt was a familiar energy washing over me.

_The Emeralds…

* * *

_

OMG! Will Knuckles survive? Will Shadow save them? Why am I asking questions you know the answer to already? XD I know this chapter was short, but I was trying to get _something_ up tonight. I apologize to you all if I messed up Knuckles. I can write Shadow no sweat, because when I'm having a really bad day I usually end up acting like him. Also, Sonic is easy cause I can understand almost perfectly how his mind works, but Knuckles? For some reason I just can't write him very well. In fact, this is definitely the best I've done on him. Sorry to leave you all hanging again, but hey it says suspense! Well read the story then go and press that pretty green button and tell me what you think! Chapter 4 is on the way!


	5. Chapter 4: A Blast From a Shadowed Past

Hello everyone! This is your pilot speaking. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for liftoff. Oh wait! Wrong notes! Sorry about that. OK! Lets give this another try…

Hi everyone! Here is another chapter of The Maze of Time! I hope you were all in suitable suspense while I was away! =P I'm in a good mood right now, so I won't talk till you fall asleep this time. *sounds of partying* HEY! YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO BE_ THAT_ HAPPY! Anyway, its time for the… well whatever you call it.

whatever you call it: I don't own anything but my bad guy and the plot for this story. Sonic and co belong to SEGA and Cassy is Tomoko-Tottori's. If you all want to see a picture of her after you read the story then go to her fanclub on deviant art and search the gallery for the drawing called Sunshine. That is, at least in my opinion, the best drawn picture of her. (She will change to those clothes while she is gone, but doesn't have them on now.) Also, if you want to use Cassy in _ANYTHING _then you must ask Tomoko-Tottori for permission like I did.

EDIT NOTE: In this very strange copy of the Sonic X world, Station Square, along with a sizeable amount of the GUN forces, has been transported to Sonic's world because of a strange fluke in inter dimensional time/space. Confused? No? Are you sure? Cause that wasn't really supposed to mean much :P. Anyway though Station Square is here Chris and his family aren't. I don't have anything against Chis, but for now I just don't want to have yet _another _person running around wreaking havoc on the plot lol. Ummm... AKA I have absolutely no idea how he would fit into the plot of this story, and even if I did, I would be terrible at writing him in.

* * *

Chapter 4 - Blast From a Shadowed Past

"Knuckles!!?"

Free from the shock that had frozen me for a moment, I ran over to where my friend and sometimes rival lay. The blast from the attack had thrown him nearly 20 feet, and it would have hurled him farther had he not been stopped by one of the huge trees that covered the face of the island. Though I could not see where it had come from because of his fur color, I could see blood covering the ground around him, and his chest was moving so little as to be almost undetectable. Some part of me refused to believe what my eyes were telling me.

_No! He has to be asleep or something!_

I could feel the darkness inside me rising to the surface, but I didn't care anymore. All I wanted was to get that murderer's head and crush it beneath my shoe. I realized suddenly that I had been shaking Knuckles as I would if he were only asleep. I removed my hands from his dying form as my anger finally pass the point of all control.

"As you can see, you cannot hope to defeat me. Just like your friend… you are doomed!"

"Well, why don't we test that theory of yours!" My voice came out in that breathy, _wrong_ sounding tone that I had only heard two other times. I knew even without looking that my fur had turned a jet black and my pupils had vanished, changing my eyes into glowing white shapes in the night. I felt a dark power whirling around me. The mist of pure energy eclipsed everything around me, changing into a miniature tornado with me at its eye. My hands slammed shut, and the tornado exploded outward in a shockwave strong enough to uproot some of the trees.

With the kind of power I now possessed, Chaos Control was a breeze, even without an emerald. I appeared twenty feet above and behind him, and used a burst of energy to make me fall even faster. Before he could react, my foot connected with the back of his head, snapping it forward with a painful sounding crack. Using his skull like a trampoline, I landed a few feet away. My hearing, boosted along with all my other senses, picked up a slight change in the air behind me, causing me to whirl around. Where by all rights he ought to have been lying dead after I broke his neck, he was flying at me, fist extended and charged with enough energy to kill or severely wound me, even in this form.

"Heh, this is too easy!"

With that said, I snapped my right arm across from my left shoulder, the side of my fist slamming into his ear midway through its trip. The punch hurled him toward the side of a cliff, but he managed to flip around and hit feet first. The smirk he had worn a few minutes ago was gone, and it was obvious he was taking me much more seriously than he had been.

_Good, just the way I like it._

Without wasting time to talk, he threw himself back into the air with enough force to blast a deep hole in the cliff. This time, he was holding a ball of energy about as big as my head, and to stop me from knocking him away like last time he had an energy barrier in front of him. However, I was way ahead of him. As the orb passed through where my head had been moments before, I was already below him and floating on my back. I spun my whole body around to give my kick the maximum amount of force possible. I wasn't content with just that move though. With a flicker of thought I was floating above him, my chaos infused fist waiting when his limp body came flying up to me. Again though, I chaos controlled. This time I appeared on the ground below him, a black aura surrounding my body.

"CHAOS BLAST!" I savored the sudden look of fear on the mans face an instant before he was engulfed in the miniature atom bomb I had just set off. For a normal person, that would mean instant death, but I knew that he would survive. Quickly I froze time again, this time searching through all the black energy with my mind to find his location and the direction in which he was going. I sensed him immediately, heading in the general direction of the Altar, still riding the shockwave of the blast. I cut the chaos control when I was right in front of him, charging all my remaining energy into the palm of my extended right hand. In less than a second, the back of his head landed in my hand, and I tightened my grip so he couldn't get away.

"Well, looks like you had better go think up a new theory… in the afterlife!"

As I said that, I released my hold on the immense energy in my body, letting it blast out through my palm. The beam hurled him all the way across the island, ending in a spectacular crash landing that made a new crater in the island and uprooted all the trees in the immediate area.

Satisfied that my enemy was dead, I lowered the cushion of power I was floating on to the ground, releasing my dark form. As I did, my exhaustion hit me like a physical blow. I fell to my knees, suddenly feeling every inch of my bruised body.

"MWHAHAHAHA!!"

The laugh echoed across the island, causing every hair on my body to stand strait up. My body refused to respond to my mind, leaving my frozen on my knees.

_How could he be alive!?!?!?!_

An emotion I didn't experience very often was filling my mind now. _Fear. _It froze my body more efficiently than ice. A flash of lightning lit up the area, at least enough for me to realize I was near where Knuckles lay. The same laugh drifted in from far away, and yet it seemed like it was right next to me. The sound added to my already considerable anger, but in my current condition it was simply impotent fury.

_Where is he??_

Even as I thought that, my question was answered. A rip seemed to appear in the air in front of me, and out of it stepped the man, all traces of the fight removed except for his torn and mud stained jacket. He said nothing, he knew now at least, that I wasn't one to be trifled with. But just as plainly as I could see that, I could see too what he and I both knew. I was defeated. I watched with a strange detachment as he began to charge up another attack. Thinking back, my only regret was not being able to tell Amy what I had started to feel over the years we fought together, but had kept from her so that she wouldn't become even more of a target.

_Ah well, I suppose I'll see her again someday, along with all the others._

I looked back up at the man, and smiled a smile that was both taunting, and yet content.

_I am free. Free from all this chaos. But where I can rest, he must go on._

And somehow, I knew that it was more of a punishment than I could have ever dealt him. I looked on calmly as the bolt of energy flew from his hand and began to cross the 30 or so feet between us, gathering speed as it went. A golden light filled my eyes as the bolt hit me.

_So this is what its like to die…_

It was kind of pleasant actually. I didn't feel any pain, in fact I could feel my wounds being healed and my energy rejuvenated.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR??!?!?!"

The angry shout came from just in front of me, and I opened my eyes to see who it was.

"Wha!! Shadow??"

"YOU! CHAOS BLAST!" As the blinding red light filled my vision, I threw my arm up in front of my eyes, as if to ward off a blow.

_For all the good that will do. Shadow just saved my life… and now _he_ is gonna kill me._

To my surprise, the red energy wave passed over me without affecting me in the slightest. I jumped up and took in the scene in front of me.

Super Shadow floated about 10 feet in front of me, and anything within 30 meters of him was completely wiped out. That is, except for me and a female yellow hedgehog I didn't recognize. She was wearing what seemed to be a special forces uniform. It reminded me of what the GUN always wore, except tailored to fit an anthropomorphic animal. Her fur was colored a bright yellow while her eyes were green. Her quills were waist length and were brown down to the tips, which were apparently colored blue.

"Hey Shadow, did you get a girlfriend while you were away??"

His response came with one of his glares. "Understand this right now Sonic. If you _ever_ suggest, or even think that she is my girlfriend, I will kill you myself. And I would really rather not have to do that."

Completely ignoring the dirty look he was sending my way, I continued. "Really? Why? Are you worried I might win?"

"No." He scoffed at my suggestion. "There's no way you could touch me now. Not with some of the things I've learned. But, as much as I hate to admit it, I am going to need your help on this one."

I gave him a mock disbelieving look, then proceeded to run around in circles with my hands on my head. "AHHHH!! The Ultimate Life Form is asking for help. AHHH!! Shad, why did you have to doom the world!?"

This time, his glare was enough to stop even me from laughing. "Three things Faker. One, I'm proud, but not stupid. Only a complete idiot would refuse help when fighting an enemy who apparently can't be killed. Two. I'm not _asking_ for help. Either you help, or I'll just blast you right now. And three, if you ever call me by that ridiculous nickname again, I will make you _wish _I had killed you where you stand. Now, hurry up and get moving before that guy comes back."

It was apparent from the look in his eyes that those were not idle threats. A voice, which I immediately recognized as the girl's, came from behind me. "I would do what he says. The only time I've ever seen him this angry is when that guy came back from the dead the first time."

I quickly figured my chances of actually fighting off Shadow when he had all the Emeralds and I was this tired. They didn't look good at all.

_Hmm. Pissed off Shadow or psycho freak who can't be killed. No choice at all._

"All right all right! I'll help. I was going to in the first place Shadow, there was no need for threats."

"Remember this too Sonic. I don't make threats." Though I knew he was still pretty angry, he once again seemed completely unemotional except for the smirk he now wore. At a snap of his fingers, the chaos emeralds appeared in the air around me. As I felt their power flow through me, a feeling of responsibility came with it. I knew exactly what I could do if I used this power for the wrong ends, and that knowledge had a sobering effect.

"Shadow, what are we going to do about Knuckles?" My comment caused him to glance in the direction I indicated, and when he saw Knuckles he frowned in concentration.

"CHAOS REGENERATION!" An orb of energy blasted from his hands and hit Knuckles, creating a blinding light for a moment. However, when it cleared I was relieved to see that his condition had stabilized.

With a grunt Shadow rotated to face the female hedgehog. "Cassy, dial 489-3849, then wait here till help comes." I watched as Shadow silenced Cassy's protests with another look that said very clearly "Shut up or else", and even I wasn't stupid enough to ask or else what.

"Gee, you really need to learn some manners Shadow!"

"Get moving before I change my mind." I just rolled my eyes and shrugged, then shot upward alongside him. Though we only traveled for a second, we were well passed the highest point on Angel island when we stopped. About ten feet in front of us, the man floated down, almost like a leaf.

As if by agreement, no one spoke. I don't know how long we floated there, but I spent most of it in silent conversation with Shadow. Apparently, he had found that when in our Super forms we could talk to each other through our minds, though we could only hear words meant for us and it only worked between us.

At exactly the same time, we teleported. Shadow appeared directly in front of the guy, already moving to punch him away. I had to admit, that guy was fast. He managed to throw his arms, reinforced by a strong energy barrier, in the way of the punch, but it did him no good. Shadow had expected him to do that, and so I had chaos control directly behind him, and started to spin. As he flew backwards from the force of the attack, his back ran strait into my spindash. Because of the direction I was spinning, he flew strait down toward Angel Island, but managed to begin flying again a little way above the tree level.

I watched as Shadow teleported down towards the man and then threw as many Chaos Spears as he could use at once. As I watched them fly at their target, I found the answer to one of my questions.

_He wasn't kidding. He's a lot better than when I last saw him. His Chaos Spears are much more accurate and I'm guessing they'll do a lot more damage. That must be how I survived Chaos Blast. He can choose what targets he wants to exempt from the attack._

To my surprise, the Chaos Spears did no damage. About a foot and a half from the mans body they hit a spherical energy field around him, and bent around the outside of it to hit the mountain behind him. Too late though, he realized what _I _had been doing. I appeared behind him in a flash of golden light, chaos energy already exploding outward. I may not have been as good as Shadow at it, but I could still create a lot of destruction with my Chaos Blast. The shockwave hurled him through the air… and right into another Chaos Spear barrage from Shadow. However, he recovered from that attack, and with a swirl of dark power three tendrils of pure black energy lashed out at us. The way they moved reminded me of the power blur Shadow and I left behind when running.

"Sonic! Get out of the way! If those things touch you, then your in trouble."

At the last second I teleported out of the way, just to prove I could do it. "Seriously Shadow! These things are easy!" His only response was a sharp laugh. My only warning of the impending attack was a slight buzz in my ear a moment before it hit. The tendril when viewed up close seemed to be a two dimensional beam of power about a foot wide and slightly pointed at the tip. I didn't have long to wonder what the heck it was before it rammed my chest.

The next thing I knew, my body was aching all over, my Super form was gone and I was lying about two feet into the side of the mountain. Shadow was on one knee a few feet away panting. He too had lost his super form, but something else seemed wrong with him. His face was pale and his eyelids looked like the were fighting to stay open. His legs and arms were trembling with exhaustion, and he looked like he would pass out at any second. Then I noticed that a large amount of my energy had vanished, and I felt like I had been running for two days strait.

"HA HA HA!" The loud laugh caused us both to look up. Above us floated the man, a very familiar looking ball of yellow energy in his left hand, which was held strait up in the air. A closer look at both of us told me that wisps of the same golden energy were floating away from us and heading to the orb.

I heard a pained gasp from beside me and I looked over at Shadow, who was now looking even worse than before. "Sonic. He's… draining all the chaos energy… I need to live. Without it, I will fall unconscious indefinitely. Stop him _now._" I tried my best to get up, but I was pinned by some sort of invisible force field.

"Fools. You can't stop me. Neither of you can even move!" As much as it irked me to admit it, he was right. All I could do was growl and mutter at him, and all Shadow could do was lie there unmoving.

To everyone's surprise, at that moment a gunshot rang out from above us.

"Just like you silly people to forget about the girl. You think I'm in the special forces for nothing?" And then I watched in surprise, albeit very pleased surprise, as Cassy's next shot went right through the man's head. The bad news was, he simply burst into a dark mist, then reformed a few feet away looking a lot madder than he had been. The good news was that Shadow and I were free, and we jumped to our feet and got ready to fight.

"You stupid bitch! You'll pay for that!"

"Ah ah ah! Language! Your manners are worse than Shadow's. And that's saying something." I knew as I saw the man throw himself threw the air at Cassy that I wouldn't be there in time. I started running anyway. As I cleared the top of the flat ledge she was on I got one good look around before the man struck. It was about 30 meters across, and it had more than a few trees, since we were below the tree line. Cassy was standing with an semi-automatic pistol in her hand under one of the larger trees. Just as the man passed under the outer branches of the tree two things happened at once. The first was Shadow appeared about 5 feet away. The second was that a very familiar bat dropped from the tree and introduced the guys skull to her boot.

For a second I stared at the unexpected help, then blurted the first thing that came to mind. "What the- Rouge?"

Before she could answer me, she had to dodge a blast from the man, who had recovered from yet another fatal attack.

"Gee, that guy has got as much bone on his skull as he has rudeness." I glanced over at the sarcastic bat, who was currently pretending to dust herself off.

"You can say that again Rouge. So far he's been blown up uncounted times, and I broke his neck twice, and yet he is still fighting us! If anything, he's persistent!"

"My sounds like you boys really need my help!"

At that point Shadow broke in, his usual frown returned to his face. "Actually Rouge, I can handle this just fine. The one who needs your help is Knuckles."

Rouge chuckled when Shadow mentioned the name, then asked, "What has that echidna got himself into _now_??"

Her smile vanished when she saw the pained look on my face. "It's bad isn't it?" In response I only nodded. "Take me there."

"Cassy, go with Rouge. As soon and you reach Knuckles, take Rouge's chopper to the Station Square hospital." Rouge looked at Shadow in surprise.

"How did you know I took a chopper??"

Shadow grunted then replied. "I saw you flying in. Did you expect me to miss you with all the noise you made?"

"Are you saying that you knew all along what Cassy and Rouge were going to do??!" This time it was my turn to use an angry glare.

"Obviously. Now, get moving! Sonic, get ready to hit him hard when I distract him. Other than that, stay away. I've got a score to settle." I shrugged, knowing it was useless to protest as Shadow chaos controlled to who knows where to finish the fight.

* * *

Well now you guys have another epic battle to read about. And yes I know there is slight Sonamy here. I put that there for a reason which I will not yet say. So far, the plan for this story and its sequel(s) does not call for a large amount of romance, but any I add in is for a good reason and will probably set up things that will come. If _anyone_ flames me about the couples I _do_ use, then expect deep trouble. I don't mind if you criticize me about it, but NO flames on this subject!

The next chapter will be up tomorrow night or Friday. It will be an ending to this fight, as well as an interlude of sorts. Chapter six will be more of a talking chapter, followed by seven and eight which will incorporate a new kind of battle that you may or may not be seeing more of depending on its reception.

Hope you like this cause I spent two freaking nights writing till my hands were about to fall off to get this to you. I had better get some good reviews for this. And I mean good like Lady's review. I want to know just what I did wrong and how to fix it, got that? I don't want to have nearly gotten grounded for the next month and a half about five times for some review that says 'ooh good story' then ends. REVIEW!

The number Shadow gave Cassy was Rouge's. Don't ask how he got it cause the only answer you'll get is that he's psychic lol. Actually it was a GUN phone, and the emergency number for the ARK when they were actually on the same side. Though he still doesn't remember everything he does remember some stuff. Sooooooo, yea anyway, have fun while I get the next update ready. Bye!

BTW did you all like the puns I am now turning my chap names into? You should have been able to guess exactly what Shadow would do in this chap just by the name. Have a nice day! AND REVIEW! (I'll never leave you alone till you do! This thing has almost 1000 hits and only 5 reviews!)


	6. Chapter 5: A Dark and Stormy Night

Hey everyone. My update schedule is now screwed. In the making of this chapter, my dad caught me up around 2:00 AM. Ouch. As a result, I've been grounded since Thursday. This chap will be a bit messed up. The original plan had the first part of this chapter attached to the one before it, but I decided to do it this way instead. The problem is that neither part is big enough to really stand alone, soooo you have a two part chapter. Part one is the end of the fight that has been going for the past two chapters. Part two is an interlude… well sort of. Lets just see how it turns out.

A little FYI here. Why Shadow showed up so late in the fight was because while he only teleported, the man traveled through space_ and_ time. Also, for those of you who get confused here is a little chronological sequence. Chapter one took place around 1:00 AM then chapter two starts at 9:00 PM. Then the rest of the chapters are one after another till the second part of this one, which, as it says, is two hours later.

GUYS! LOOK AT MY PROFILE PAGE FOR INFO ON THIS STORY AND UPDATES! I try to throw up an update there every day or so. Now lets get to the story! GO SHADOW! J

Disclaimer: I own EVERYTHING! Disregard last statement please. I own only my plot and evil guy. And my computer. And my… Oh never mind. Cassy is Tomoko-Tottori's from DeviantART, and all Sonic characters and locations belong to SEGA.

Chapter 5 - A Dark and Stormy Night

_Chaos Control_

I appeared in the sky high above Angel Island, my air shoes already firing off their jets. In front of me the nameless man stood in the air as if he were on solid ground. As I materialized the man flung his hand out and began to drain chaos energy again.

"Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. The same trick won't work a second time."

As I felt the tug in my chest that meant he was draining my energy, I twisted one of the gold bands on my wrist. A faint golden sphere flickered into existence around me and began yanking all the energy from the area to me. The man frowned and quickly cut of his assault so he could protect his own power.

"There are plenty of other ways to defeat you. Like this!" Dark mist exploded outward from him, forming a hollow orb with me at its center. The mist then suddenly morphed into about one hundred copies of him. I simply crossed my arms over my chest and smiled; I had expected that one eventually.

"Idiot. I am the Ultimate Life Form!" With that, the three emeralds that still had any substantial amount of power appeared in front of me. Green Red and Purple. Perfect. I had a special connection with those emeralds, allowing me to use their energy much more efficiently. I dropped my left arm to my side, at the same time raising my right into the air and turning slightly side on to where the original was. The emeralds floated into my body, and at the same time a hundred golf ball size orbs of energy materialized around me.

"Play time is over fool." I swung my arm down so it was extended in front of me, and just as they began to move, a hundred golden orbs picked their targets and flew at the speed of light at them. As each hit, the target's body flashed a brilliant gold before dissipating in a deadly imitation of chaos control.

I had less than a second before the remaining duplicates were on me. Luckily my reflexes were as good as ever, and I threw the first attacker away with a spindash. Before anyone else could reach me I started ricocheting between my enemies, remembering what happened when I shot them back in the city. As I hit them with homing attacks, the clones vaporized into the black mist that they were made of.

_If they do the same thing as they did back in the city they will take me right to the real one. Heh, too easy._

Sure enough, the mist floated right toward one of my attackers. Still spinning, I slammed into the clone I had targeted, then switched direction and headed straight for the man. For a moment, I thought I would hit him, but at the last minute he burst into that dark mist. I cut my spin off immediately, then whirled around using my air shoes to skid to a stop. I was barely in time to twist out of the way of a blast of energy, then throw up a shield which bent the follow up attacks around me.

_That was close. I'll have to be a little more careful._

Too late, I realized what he had been doing. He had used his remaining copies to send the blasts at me, effectively blinding me for an instant. His fist slammed into my gut before I could dodge, knocking the breath out of my lungs. Luckily, I managed to land on my feet in the middle on the island's forest. As I caught my breath, I thought of a plan using some of the moves I had created in the woods outside of town on the other planet.

_Chaos Control!_

I came out of my time freeze in the middle of a homing attack. I slammed into my target, then bounced toward another, watching the mist all the while. After my third attack I had located my enemy. I ricocheted off the fourth copy and headed for another clone, attempting to get a little closer so he wouldn't have time to dissipate again.

I changed direction in mid-air and headed straight for the real man. Before I hit, I had time for a quick glance around at the remaining 20 or so clones. If I judged the distance right, the trick I was about to pull off would kill two and hurt the original. As I hit my victim managed to throw his hands into the way of my body and use his strength to stop me from hitting him. The fool had fallen right into my trap. I stopped my body from spinning, but allowed my right arm to continue swinging downward toward his head. The chaos spear I had been charging while I attacked his clones blew up in the mans face just as I teleported out of range.

_Hmmm I destroyed three copies. That worked better than I expected._

Sadly, the assault had not destroyed it's primary target. Instead of being dead, he was standing there looking angry and quite charred. I half expected him to scream insults at me like some kind of sailor, but instead he simply nodded to his remaining 17 copies, and then commenced firing more energy bursts. Acting quickly, I threw myself into a back flip to avoid the first shot, then turned the flip into a spin and deflected the next three. A quick smoke screen and Chaos Control then gained me a moment's respite, which I put to very good use. When the smoke cleared and they could see me again, they continued their attack. To their evident surprise, my body simply seemed to absorb the powerful beams. A second too late, they noticed the red glow that surrounded my fur for what it was. Power.

While I served in the Special Forces at my last home I didn't use my chaos powers, worried that, when impressed with my power, they would send me on impossible mission after impossible mission till one day I wouldn't come back. However, I was not going to end up fighting someone I couldn't kill with my guns and be out of practice. Every day, I spent at least an hour in the woods outside of town training and experimenting with my powers. The result was new abilities that I didn't even think were possible. For instance, precisely targeted Chaos Blasts.

I put my right arm in front of me and turned sideways to present small a target as possible. In seconds, the energy that had covered my whole body was concentrated on the palm of my right hand. Though my eyes were immune to it, the light was blinding my enemies.

_Perfect. CHAOS CONTROL!_

The only warning the man had was my palm pressing against his gut moments before the blast. As the explosion ripped through his last remaining copies, his whole body shredded apart, changing from flesh into black mist.

_He must be made of that stuff! That explains a lot._

As the mist drifted away, I flipped into a spindash. The laser meant for my head bounced right back to its source, who simply changed the part of him that it would have hit into mist till it had passed.

"HA! That weak an attack will never hurt me! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

I smiled in triumph before replying in a smug voice. "It wasn't meant to."

"What?? What are you talking about!?"

As an answer I reached out with my mind, touching all the particles of chaos energy that had been spread through the air around us by my last attack. Before he could figure out what was going on, I threw both my hands straight out and hurled the energy all around us at him. The result was a tsunami of ultra-dense air slamming into him around the speed of light. As it flew towards him, I allowed the chaos energy to flare up to its brightest, successfully blinding him.

"Sonic Wind! Take that you egotistical idiot! You're worse that Eggman!"

The blast from my friend sent him flying straight downward toward the peak of the mountain where I was already standing.

"Say goodbye you fool! This will teach you to mess with the Ultimate Life Form! CHAOS CONTROL!" As I said the last sentence, I reached out to all the chaos energy in the area, pulling it to myself. I was slightly surprised to find that Angel Island was covered with chaos energy, but the real help came from the Master Emerald. When I touched it with my mind, it was like falling into a hurricane of pure power, aching to be used. And I used it. The portal that opened above my head was not even the normal blue it was so powerful. The white light completely blinded me, and the power assaulted all my senses. A heard a scream of pain from my opponent as he flew through the portal, and I sealed it immediately.

"Hey we did it Shadow! Umm you all right?"

"I'm fine." I snapped back at him, knowing I was most defiantly _not_ fine. However bad I looked, I felt ten times worse. Every last bit of my energy was drained, except for enough to keep me conscious, and I wouldn't have even that if my inhibitors hadn't held it back.

"Sheesh, no need to get mad at me. I was only trying to be friendly!" I shook my head and jumped lightly down the mountainside, too tired to argue with Sonic. As I reached the bottom, he dropped down beside me. He wasn't smiling or being his usual insufferable self, instead he was simply waiting calmly till I had caught my breath. I silently nodded my thanks to him for not taunting me and understanding that the last thing I wanted to hear was a joke. "Follow me, our base is over here you can rest there."

I nodded again, then skated off behind him.

* * *

"Great, isn't _this _situation familiar." I glared at the TV that seemed to be determined not to show anything interesting. For the second time in one day, I found myself sprawled on the couch and bored out of my mind. It had been three hours since Shadow had finally gotten rid of that crazy freak, and now that he was in bed and Knuckles was at the hospital, I was alone.

I jumped up off the couch and ran to the other side of the base at full speed looking for something to do. I ended up in the indoor tennis court playing a game against myself. In about ten seconds I had won three games in a row and I was bored again. Eventually, I found myself back on the couch. I tried to fall asleep, after all it was three in the morning, but my adrenaline level was still way too high for that.

Another flash of lightning lit up the dark room. I sighed, hoping that the storm would stop sometime soon so I could go see how Knux was doing. Though I wouldn't admit it to anyone, my jumpiness was not the result of an overdose of adrenaline. The fight had affected me more than I would ever let on. Getting such a close brush with death would mess with anyone's head, and if you combined that with seeing one of your best friends getting blown up right in front of you and watching the guy who did it laugh about it…

I violently shook my head, as if my thoughts were something I could dislodge with a quick movement. This was why I hated it when nothing was going on. I wasn't anywhere near as carefree as everyone thought. Though I manage to lock these kinds of thoughts away when something is happening, if you put me somewhere quiet with nothing to do, I invariably start to think. The vision that everyone held of me suddenly popped into my head: some cool guy who could go anywhere and do anything without a care in the world, the sort of guy who beat up megalomaniacs like Eggman just for a morning constitutional. That image seemed so absurd to me that I laughed aloud, the kind of laugh that comes out when your body wants to do anything _but_ laugh, and you feel like you're going to be sick. The truth was, I was anything but that, though I would keep their illusions going, as it made them feel safer. I thought of what had almost happened to Knux and I, then jumped up and ran frantically around the base at my top speed, which was twice that of three years ago.

Running was my refuge. When I ran, my gloomier side was left in the dust. My whole mind was clean of any thought, simply enjoying the air blasting past my face, the total absence of sound showing that I was going faster than any troubles could ever go. But my speed was both a blessing and a curse. It made my running what it was, but it also made it so there was no way I could really run for a long time. Sometime I had to stop, and when I did, the world and all its troubles would be right there waiting to pounce. That was what happened this time, as with all the others. When I stopped, my mind went right back to where it was before I had stood up.

_The only ones who really understand what kind of pressure I'm under are Shadow, and Amy._

Wait a sec, Amy? I wondered where in the bloody hell that came from, but at the same time I knew it was right, and I wasn't really all that surprised. When she actually acted her age, which had been almost all the time at the point when I had removed her from the team, she had a way of understanding people's problems that still amazed me, even though I had seen her do it hundreds of times. With that, my thoughts started off on a slightly brighter path, though one that still made me wish I was doing something else. My mind wandered back to all the adventures that me and Amy and the rest of the Gang had had over the past few years. I cut that trail of thought off short when I started to feel an emotion that scared me almost as much as the ones I had felt before.

_Give it up Sonic, this damned world will never be safe, and until it is, it won't be safe for you to be anywhere near Amy._

Great now I just started talking to myself… could this day get _any _worse?

I remembered seeing an online poll the other day that asked people what my worst fear was. Some people said it was water, some said Amy. Even others said I was afraid of my friends dying. But though they were all right in a way, only one person ever guessed what it really was. Their answer had been only one word long, but it had more affect on readers than all the others combined.

_Fear._

For a long time, I sat there looking at it, as if by staring I could determine some long lost answer to the meaning of life. When I finally moved, it was to try and track down the person who knew so much about me, though I think now that in my heart I already knew the answer. It had been submitted anonymously from a public computer in Station Square, and after many dead ends I finally gave up, though now I wonder how it was that I didn't guess immediately. I though back to my earlier revelation. Amy. I had no proof, of course, but I didn't need any. All the other people who posted had good ideas, but no one but Amy was ever right. I hated water with a passion, and the confused feelings Amy stirred in me scared me. Somewhere in the portion of my mind I did my best to keep silenced, I feared for all my friends who fought along side me. Who wouldn't? But all those things were nothing compared to the thing that absolutely terrified me. Fear can destroy even the most intelligent mind, fear can ruin even the best reflexes, and once he has felt true fear, even the bravest person will hesitate to face it again. Fear is the one thing that can utterly and totally destroy a person, and I have seen it happened again and again first hand. I watched good men reduced to shivering wrecks when faced with the threat of the Metarex, and watched sensible people defying all logic in a mad rush to escape Eggman's robots, then jumping and quivering at the slightest whisper once they were, never to be the same again..

I glanced at my reflection in the top of the glass coffee table, noting my sudden likeness to Shadow. My usual smile was gone, replaced by the brooding frown of which my black doppelganger was master. Only the sheer ridiculousness of that scene turned my thoughts from the bottomless pit of "Shadowness" they had nearly fallen down. My mental joke livened me up a bit, causing me to smile again and sit up straighter. Then the peace of the night was destroyed in one swift stroke.

I jumped about three feet in the air when a loud voice rumbled through the base. "I know your in there! Come out you beasts!" I looked franticly around, but there was no apparent source of the sound. All the lights in the base were still off, and the passive sensors of the base mainframe would have warned it of anything over the size of a pebble coming near us. Seeing no readily addressable source of the voice, I went to plan B: tell whoever it was to come out.

"Show yourself whoever you are!" Only silence and echoes responded to my challenge.

_Great, don't tell me I'm hearing things… if that woke up Shadow I'll never hear the end of it!_

To my mixed relief and annoyance, the mysterious speaker did as I asked. The TV flickered on, showing a face that, at first, I didn't recognize as the one of the man we had just been fighting. Though he had not seemed to physically age, he looked somehow ancient now, but by far the two most striking changes were the painful looking burns that covered his face, and his eyes. They had a haunted, wild look about them, seeming more like the eyes of some lunatic that had come straight from a permanent ward in an asylum somewhere. Then of course, I reminded myself that the guy was a lunatic, still the changes where interesting, seeing as he had only been gone for two hours.

"Wow, how did you get that beat up in just the few hours you were gone?" To my immense satisfaction, the question seemed to drive him even more crazy than he already was. Before replying he went through a long monologue that probably had something to do with cursing me and all my ancestors in every language ever invented.

"You won't be so smug for long you little son of a bitch. Locking me in the Maze for a hundred years got you a ticket for the most painful path to Hell that is possible for me to give you!" When he said how long he had been trapped a shocked and confused look passed over my face, and before I could hide it, he saw. That seemed to make him inexplicably happy. "You really know nothing about the Maze do you?? HAH! I see now, you friend only discovered how to send me there by accident, and you both have no idea what you really did or who I am!"

"Now _that _is where you're wrong." The voice caused both of us to look toward the other side of the room. Shadow stood, looking more energized than I had ever seem him, even though he had been exhausted two hours before. "I know exactly what you are, I would have to be blind not to. You are one of the Shades that the humans have all those stories about. But those stories are simply tales, except for small bits of truth are they not? The only way you could survive the place you call the Maze for a hundred years is for you to be from beyond the limits of this world."

I stood staring at Shadow, and silence once again reigned through the house. It didn't last. The man looked long and hard at Shadow, then smiled one of those smiles that makes goose bumps appear all over your skin. " I see now why my leader wants you alive, with your knowledge and astute mind combined with your fighting prowess, you could be equal to or better than all of our other fighters put together if you had the proper training."

Shadow's response was preceded by his characteristic derisive snort that stung with the kind of venom only a professional could muster. "You know, this is getting strangely like that silly sci-fi series that humans like, what was it? Oh, Star Wars. Except there are no light sabers or psychokinetic powers." As he said the last part, something clawed at the back of my mind, like a dream one has forgotten for years and then someone suddenly mentions something that makes you remember it. I put that aside for later. "So what was it I'm supposed to say now? I'll never join you? Hmph. Anyway, go tell it to someone who will listen, cause the only thing you'll get from me is the wrong side of my fist."

The man glared daggers at Shadow, then shrugged and continued in a voice that made it obvious he was fighting to stay calm. "Well its not like I expected you to walk up and volunteer. You'll need a thorough reconditioning, maybe another convenient bout of amnesia, that almost worked last time."

I glanced sideways at Shadow, expecting him to be about ready to explode. Instead he seemed completely calm, that is until he opened his mouth. "Listen very closely whoever you are." His voice was impossibly calm, and made any sane person want to put as much distance as they could between themselves and Shadow. When he started shouting, he was ready to kill the object of his wrath, but when he spoke in this quiet, deadly voice, you could tell he was ready to kill _everything_. "I swear right now that however long it takes, and whatever I have to go through, I will hunt you down, and when I do, I will send you to the damned Maze for the rest of eternity. You, as of now, are a dead man."

I glanced at the look on the mans face, and could tell he was profoundly glad to be far away from Angel Island, and couldn't wait to get even more distance between Shadow and himself. "It doesn't matter. In 3 hours all you're friends will be dead and you won't remember a thing." He savored our odd looks, knowing we had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't have to be as smart as Tails to know he was gong to tell us, and enjoy every minute of it. "Look at the sky." I took a step towards the wall socket for the computer, but it anticipated my request, and suddenly the ceiling vanished and we were standing under the stars.

Actually, the computer just projected a view from a roof camera onto the ceiling, but it was a nice comparison. That is until I looked at the moon. Then all thoughts of nice were blocked out of my head, and I went into what Tails called my "fighting mode". Eclipsing part of the moon, was a giant black shape. At the tip, a green glow visible even from where we were as a buildup of immense power, shown like a billboard, telling us exactly what would happened in three hours. I glanced back at the TV, but the man had already cut the transmission after enjoying our surprised stares.

Not one to be slowed down, I took action immediately. "Shadow, we are going to need help on this one. Since I'm more familiar with the city, I'll find out how the others are doing. You go find Tails, he lives in a mansion the government gave him as a reward for his work in fighting the Metarex. It's deep inside the forest at Mystic Ruins, I don't have a map , but the place isn't very hard to miss. Its right near a cliff." Shadow nodded, then left time behind with a flash of blue light as I ran out the door, my previous dark thoughts already gone. In a way, I suppose I was as carefree as they thought. All I have to do is run.

* * *

Whew! I'm finally done! I gotta stop writing the intro before I finish the whole chapter. This was supposed to be short!

Oh well, it turned out _way _better than I had any right to expect, or at least I think so. It kinda took on a life of its own around the time Sonic played one man tennis. (That's gotta be an interesting thing to see. lol) The theme in the second half was pretty dark, but I for once I like it. I am SO sorry this took the time it did, but I didn't even get halfway into the fight before I got caught Thursday and the second half kept turning out so bland. I really got the inspiration for the whole introspection thing from Madhog Thy Master's profile page. I realized that this story, while having action galore, was lacking in real character, so this is the result of me trying to fix that error. I know that Madhog is almost definitely not reading this, but I' still gonna say thanks for the little jolt there, even if you had no idea you did anything. I don't know how it would have turned out otherwise.

People, from now on when you review (and you had better) tell me any quotes you think are funny, and I'll put them up in a little hall of fame type thing on my profile page. Again an idea from Madhog's page that I thought was cool and decided to try. Thanks again Madhog!

Did you catch the hint in Sonic and Shadow's conversation with the bad guy? If not go back and look closer. I made it pretty vague, but you should be able to see it. What is foreshadowed there will not come to pass until the tenth full moon of the year… wait what? First I was some sort of TV or radio guy then I was a pilot and now I'm some prophet out of ancient Greek mythology?? STOP MESSING WITH MY HEAD YOU GUYS! XD I've been assigned the Illiad and the Odessy as reading and its bleeding off into my work. Anyway, that won't happen till the second part, when ever that will be. Soooo… WAIT! I like making you wait!

Can you people believe that this all started with a harmless, cute little oneshot story that came to me in the middle of the night in November? Probably not, but its true. In fact, I will include the oneshot in this story as the epilogue for the entire series. Now REVIEW! Then get off the computer and do something, its unhealthy to stay on 24/7. (I should know. Well, I just usually stay on all night typing these new chapters for you guys lol.) CYA I'll get you another chapter up tomorrow around three again. Three in the morning that is… if I stay up any longer I will never be able to work tomorrow. Or today I suppose I should say...


	7. Chapter 6: A Tale of a Fox

Hey all. Thank you Madhog and Unknownlight for the great reviews! And thanks a bunch for putting this on The Dark Side of the Hog. Readers, when you review, do what they did. Tell me exactly what you think, and give suggestions about how to make it better. I don't mind criticism. In fact, I love it when you actually find something wrong with this story. Its when no one can find anything at all that I get worried, cause I know there is always going to be something wrong with this. What do think I'm going to do? Bite you? lol. Anyway, in this chapter we get A NEW CHARACTER YAY! No, he is not an OC, he is another Sonic char. No action in this chapter, just the past three years of history from Tail's POV and then the Sonic Team will begin to gather again. I have been waiting to get to this part for weeks, and now that I'm here LET THE PUNS BEGIN! Wait, that didn't sound quite right…

_Disclaimer: Sonic and his friends along with all the locations (Mystic Ruins, Angel Island etc.) belong to SEGA. The manor belongs to Tails, and the Angel Island base belongs to Sonic. Cassy is Tomoko-Tottori's fan character from DeviantART, and before you can use her you have to ask permission.

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Chapter 6 - The Tale of a Fox

"…It's right by a cliff."

I watched as Sonic ran out of the room and Shadow vanished with the usual flash. As Sonic left, a program changed the camera view to a storage room security cam just as Sonic skidded to a halt near the back of the room. Ten seconds of frantic running around later, Sonic found the package he was looking for and removed it from the shelf. As I had expected, the box contained the water shoes Chris had built for him during one of the first battles of the War. He quickly pulled on the shoes and placed his normal sneakers in the box, then put the box carefully on the shelf where it had been moments before. Right before he began to run, the program changed the feed again, this time to a camera in the corner of the entryway that was disguised inside a grandfather clock. The switching program was designed especially because of Sonic. I had fed all his tendencies and mannerisms into the database so it could predict with around 75% certainty where the super fast hedgehog would go next. Most of the time it also monitored all the recent conversations Sonic had engaged in and threw that into the equation as well, and raising the chances of a correct guess by an large amount.

A normal person would not even be able to see the blur trail Sonic left as he passed, but my eyesight was almost as good as my brain. The program flipped through a few cameras hidden in the forests and caught a few flashes and sonic booms, but nothing else. Then I got results when a camera hidden inside the head of a fake mechanical squirrel caught Sonic slowing down at the edge of the island that was closest to town. Like he usually did when there was no other means of getting off the giant floating rock, and sometimes just for fun or to annoy me, he threw himself off the cliff toward the ocean with a wild yell.

_Sonic, one of these days those shoes will malfunction, and when I come to save you, there is _no_ way your gonna stop me from saying I told you so._

I rolled my chair away from one of the desks that sat against three walls of the dim room, shaking my head in mock exasperation. The slight smile that crossed my face lasted less time than water in a vacuum. I glanced around the room again. It was set up like a military command center, except slightly smaller. In essence, that was exactly what it was, except _much_ more advanced and built so that one man, or fox, could monitor everything. I glanced toward a strange piece of equipment that looked something like a radar, but when you looked closer it was obvious that it wasn't. Actually, it was a sensor cluster that monitored the surrounding area for time space-time anomalies like Shadow's Chaos Control. From what I had gathered from the camera footage that was the reason for my being in the stuffy command center, a device much like this one, exactly like in fact, had probably saved my friends lives by warning them of the approaching threat. I stood up to look closer, but found no flashing areas on the map of Mystic Ruins.

_Well I didn't expect Shadow to get it right on, I knew he'd have to teleport somewhere he had been, then search the remaining area on foot. Looks like he won't be here for a bit._

I set the scanner to warn me if it detected the strange oscillations of energy that Shadow power inhibitors usually gave off, then turned and stared absently at a small red rose in a pot on one of the desks.

Even though it was late at night, I knew from the complex sensors installed on the roof of my mansion that the city was full to the brim with people. A long time ago, when I was a different person altogether, I would be out enjoying the sights of a calm night like this, but I hadn't left the sole inhabited rooms of the house, the ones in the very center, since I had arrived here almost a week ago. Though the Ruins where full of beautiful sights and the smell of the myriad of flowers that always grew wild here in the spring, I stayed where I was, mourning another flower, one that was, in my opinion, more beautiful that all the others put together. One that hadn't made it home to see these sights with me, like we had once promised each other.

After that last battle, I was broken. For a time I had thought to simply give up, but I quickly found that once you start the twisted game of life, there's no way out until death comes for you. When I saw her ghost on the auxiliary bridge, the image was surprisingly fitting. At the time I had been really getting to know her, it seemed for a short while to be something substantial, something real. Then, just as we came to the end, she vanished in the blast from the Sonic Cannon, just as her spirit faded away as she pulled herself close to me. I lost my childhood there in that bridge, lost the one person it hurt the most to lose, and for the journey home I locked myself in my cabin, fearing to go back on that bridge, fearing to face the others. Every time I saw their pitying looks, I cringed, every time I heard them tell me that they knew how I felt, and that it wasn't healthy to stay locked away from the world, I wanted to shout that they knew nothing, _nothing._ But I didn't. Instead I handed the command over to Rouge, who was surprisingly good at handling the controls once I gave her instructions over the intercom. She and Amy had been the people I could tolerate most. They had not said a word about it, realizing that if I had wanted to talk to someone I would have.

That whole voyage I had said nothing and talked to no one, taking my meals through a lift system built into the walls of the cabin deck, allowing service droids to bring food and other items around the ship without being underfoot. When we landed on the beach below my cliff base, Amy chased everyone off the ship with her hammer, then left herself. I swapped control into my cabin, and from there activated the sliding landing pad so that it brought the ship inside the hanger at the bottom of the rock face. After it got inside, I shut the camouflaged door and headed up through the maze of tunnels I had created with some high tech digging bots I built, hoping for my old bed and a good nights sleep, for I didn't sleep at all on the two day voyage home. Instead, I got a nasty shock. My laboratory had been completely destroyed by a large tornado that had passed through while we were away. Luckily for me, some of the house keeping bots had had the presence of mind to take everything that would fit into the tunnels with them, so nothing was lost except the old Tornado plane, an irony of which I was not unaware. I slept under the stars that night and the next, unwilling to go back to the Typhoon and the memories that seemed to lie in wait around every corner. Eventually, I chose the memories over the fan girls who seemed to lurk around every corner of the forest.

At first, I thought about completely dismantling the Blue Typhoon, but I ended up restoring it, stronger than ever, a monument to the bravery of one girl. The one thing I completely scrapped was the old power cannon, partly because it was outdated next to some new tech I had thought up in the middle of the night, and partly because I never wanted to see the damn thing again. It was a physical reminder of the blood on my hands, a reminder I defiantly didn't need, since I managed to remember it without any help. I remembered it every waking moment, and relived it in my dreams.

Over the next month things stayed peaceful for the most part. I never really finished the work on the Typhoon; every few nights another idea would pop into my head, and no matter how hard it was I would always manage to build it. Then, things began to liven up again. The first thing that happened was that an agent from what the animals called their government, just some officials that volunteered for social work, came and announced that all the towns in the immediate vicinity had been saving money so that they could reward me for my part in the War. I stubbornly refused any reward till I found out that Sonic had told them what happened to my lab and that they were just as stubborn as I was. Eventually, when confronted with a total unanimity against me, I gave in. Though I sanctioned the building of the new lab, I stayed well underground and away from the workers, not wanting to hear the praise I knew I didn't deserve. That turned out to be a mistake. Since the architects couldn't ask me what I wanted them to build, they simply built the most fancy and fantastic building they could imagine. The huge old style manor house towered over the trees at four stories tall, not including the spacious attic that was probably more roomy that all the other floors combined. It was surrounded by a thick stone wall that was easily 15 feet tall, and had more rooms than I could every possibly use even if I made the place home to the whole Team, as well as a gigantic greenhouse that swiftly became my favorite place besides the underground section of my old workshop. The house faced away from the cliff, but the rear section of the fence was actually within a hundred meters of it.

The first thing I did when I finally got the workers to leave was to build a room behind the fridge in the kitchen, and add one hundred and one secrets to the library. I suppose that might have been slightly absurd, seeing as there were other perfectly good places to put my command center other than behind the fridge, but with an I.Q. of more than 400 you get bored really easily, and you have to be a bit creative to avoid it. Besides, its extremely useful if you are prone to wanting midnight snacks. I added a huge amount of digitized books into the library, saved from my old home. However, one of the many boxes added to the already considerable collection there contained a very small and very effective laser pistol, hidden behind a label so complicated that no one in their right mind would touch it. Also, I added a retinal scanner into one of the many paintings on the wall, and if I stood in just the right place and looked at the painting, it would verify my I.D. and give me a secret entrance to the tunnels.

By the time I had finished all that, I had decided to get back to life as normal, or at least seem to. Amy and Cream came down to my cliffside hangar with bursting picnic baskets many times, and Sonic came over to hang out like we used to. Chris left, and using scanner records at the time I was able to verify he made it home safely and in one piece. Eggman, of course, continued his delusional ravings where he left off, and started attacking the Mobians _again._

Still, every night before I fell asleep I wondered what it would be like to have Cosmo with me, walking through the woods in spring and hanging out with all our friends, and every night in my dreams, I saw again that accursed planet and watched, helpless as she floated toward Dark Oak and her doom.

After a while, everyone but me was shocked when Station Square and a large portion of GUN appeared in the middle of some old mole's farm. My instruments had long warned me of the temporary collapse of dimensional barriers, and the looks on all the humans faces were priceless. Moles make great farmers and can grow some of the best potatoes in the world, but frankly, their eyesight is terrible. The sight of this one nearly walking into the skyscraper that had taken up residence in the middle of his rutabaga patch had me rolling in the dirt laughing my head off. Sonic wasn't much help either. Thinking to run straight across the farm, he came over the hill at mach 2 and embedded himself in the wall of the water company, cutting some important pipelines by accident and causing a bit of a flood. I was disappointed however, to find that the Thorndykes had been on vacation when the town was yanked through the hole in space-time.

Shortly after that event, something happened to creep Sonic out. He came back from a battle with Eggman looking totally freaked and carrying a near dead Amy. Neither of then would say what happened, but a few days later I managed to sneak into Robuttnik's base and steal some of his security records. When I saw what had happened, I confronted Sonic about it. I dragged him into my lab for test after test trying to find a way to destroy his dark form, but it was useless. A small portion of the mind of his dark side was embedded into every cell of his brain, and even with my proficiency with technology, there was no way to remove it without killing him. When I finally gave up, he had me take him straight to the Angel island base we had just set up. There he announced to everyone that the girls were to leave the Team immediately. Rouge went crazy and decided to release her anger on Knuckles, needless to say, I had to completely rebuild the base after that. Cream did exactly what you would expect her to do. She was a bit disappointed, but she realized that Sonic must be doing what he was doing for a reason, so she agreed. Amy however, surprised me. I had come to the base armed with an personal energy shield prototype, anticipating a very large hammer to be headed my way. Instead, she simply nodded and produced her suitcase out of nowhere.

Things had gotten pretty monotonous after that. The day's schedule was usually something along the lines of…

7:00 AM: Beat up Eggman

8:00 AM: Stop Sonic from bashing the food processor in the base to bits trying to convince it to make chilidogs.

9:00 AM: Be driven mad by Sonic running around like a maniac telling us he was bored every 3.98 seconds, and complaining about the lack of chilidogs every 7.23 seconds.

10:00 AM: Take Sonic to the city for chilidogs, only to find that Eggman was attacking the city.

11:00 AM: Fly a very angry Sonic back to Angel Island and listen to him come up with new insults about Eggman's name because Eggman destroyed his favorite chilidog stand, forcing him to eat slightly charred chilidogs.

My train of thought was interrupted by a beeping noise. Still chuckling, I went over to the device and saw a small dot waiting at the gate. I quickly flipped to a security camera, confirmed that it was Shadow, then pressed the button to open the gate. Tapping the door control, I quickly left my lab and allowed the fridge to slide into place, blocking the entryway behind me.

A moment later Shadow walked into the kitchen to find me waiting for him. Before he could say anything, I cut him off. "I already know what's happened. Even if it weren't for that buildup of energy from the ship, the thing is so big even the worst sensors would pick it up."

In response he nodded, evidently pleased that I got to the point. "Good. Sonic has gone to see what Team members are currently in the city and try to get them to help. By my estimate we have about half an hour till he arrives."

"Right. Seeing as you've just been fighting, I suggest you get something to eat, then go and rest on board the Typhoon while I wait for Sonic. I've already got some 'bots preparing it for the flight."

To my relief he didn't ask how I'd known what was going on, he simply arched a brow then continued as if nothing had happened. "Fine. I'm not hungry, though I will have something to drink. Just get me a water. I'll be waiting in here." He motioned with his head to the doorway which he had come from, which happened to be the living room. Or at least, the only one of five living rooms I used. I turned around and headed toward the cupboard where the glasses were.  


* * *

I sat down on one of the couches in the large room while glancing around, slightly curious as to why Tails had such a large house. I smiled slightly as I realized I had gone straight to the couch in the very back corner of the room, unconsciously reverting to the tactic I had used when in unfriendly places during my stint as a spec ops.

_I guess maybe I trained myself too well. I need to start reminding myself that not every place has potential backstabbers._

I looked over to the entryway, sensing Tails the moment before he appeared. He was carrying the glass I had requested in one hand and a small pot in the other. He handed me the glass and set the pot down on a table next to the easy chair he sat on. I was still a bit surprised as to how he had known what was happening almost before we did. I didn't for a moment believe that his instruments had simply picked up the ship, though it was entirely possible. I went back over the past few hours in my memory, looking for something that wasn't quite right. My near perfect memory quickly turned up results. I remembered multiple cameras turning to track me when I had been in Sonic's base.

_So that's it. He must be able to control all the cameras in that base from here. Smart kid._

I also noticed something else. My mind, still hypersensitive because of the recent fight, had picked up a slight deviation in his power aura. When I was this sensitive, my mind could pick up the power auras produced by any living being. Usually, it allowed me to anticipate my opponents next attack, however, this time I realized that there was something slightly off about the amount of life energy he was producing. Something that wasn't there a minute ago. My eyes shot to the small pot.

_Aha. Its not his aura, it is coming from whatever is in that pot. Wait. That aura feels familiar._

Surprised, I stood up and walked toward the pot. As I reached out to pick it up my hand froze in midair. My eyes flicked towards Tails and the other end of the arm that had caught me.

_Damn, he's fast. And he can disguise his next move. I didn't even see that one coming._

I showed no sign of my surprise on the outside, I simply used an expert twist of my wrist to free myself, ending with my hand pointed at Tail's head, a small ball of golden energy in my palm. "You may have been practicing, but you are still nowhere near my level Tails." I arched an eyebrow as he tensed up, looking ready to actually try to fight me. "Relax Tails. I won't hurt her. Besides, if you tried to fight me, it would only turn out like last time." I released him and powered down the Chaos Spear. He relaxed slightly, but still looked like he would attack me if I made even the slightest aggressive move toward the small rose in the pot. I slowly moved my hand down and picked up the pot and looked closer. I moved my left hand over and lightly touched the petals, then jumped in surprise. As my hand neared the flower, I finally sensed something other than a faint oddity. Suddenly my mind was filled with intense pain, and for a moment I could see stone walls.

_HELP US!_

My eyes opened to find Tails leaning over me, holding the pot in his hand and looking between it and me. I shook myself and stood up, my considerable mental resources focusing on one task. Find out whether or not I was going crazy, because there was no way I just heard the voice I just heard.

_How the hell could I have heard Maria just now? I barely even remember anything about that period! And who is us…_

But then my mind had already come up with an answer to all my questions. Still I needed to confirm my theory. "Tails what the hell just happened?"

He looked at me in a strange way, then finally replied to my question. "I haven't the slightest idea. You moved you hand toward Cosmo, then screamed aloud and fell down and started writhing like you were in intense pain. It only lasted for about ten seconds." As he spoke I could feel my face going red. Still, a little embarrassment was worth the discovery I had just made. I needed to think.

"Tails, take me to the Typhoon. I need to think on this." He nodded and replied with a simple "Follow me." before leading me off through the large house. I knew I didn't have to ask him not to tell anyone about what had happened, he was too nice of a person to do that. After we passed through about five rooms, he stopped in from of a floor to ceiling mural. I quickly scanned the picture, paying attention to even the smallest of details. I noticed that one of the people in the artwork had a slight chip missing from his arm. Judging by appearances so far, this house was fairly new, and I knew that there wasn't much chance of Tails or his creations damaging anything, he programmed them to well, so that didn't fit. I had my answer before I could even ask the question. Tails removed the missing piece from the pocket of his lab coat and inserted it into the slot. The wall slid open along one of the creases in the stone, revealing a small elevator, which we entered. There were only three buttons, and Tails pressed the one marked "hangar". Evidently, the hangar was pretty far down because we rode in silence for at least a minute.

Finally, Tails got up his nerve to break the silence and asked the question I had been expecting ever since I showed up. "It never ends does it?" Thinking of the pain I still help for all my lost friends, the dreams that sometimes plagued my sleep, I silently shook my head. His shoulders slumped slightly and his expression changed from a calm one to exhaustion. Over the years, I had noticed that when put under high pressure, people were surprisingly easy to read. When I watched Tails, I realized just how much he had changed, and just how much he had gone through already. He may have been only in his early teens, but I could tell his mind had matured far past that age. An emotion I rarely experienced ran through me when I saw how quickly he stood straight again and his expression when he did so. Admiration. His face clearly sent out a silent message that said "Well then, if things are going to be that way, I'll put up with it anyway, and I won't let it get me down. Ever."

_He sure has changed from the shy kid he once was._

As the elevator doors swung open, I shot him a look which he returned. For a moment I let my barriers down, and acknowledged him as something I had never thought of anyone before. An equal. Then I vanished into the familiar light of Chaos Control.

* * *

As the elevator rose back up to the mansion, I thought over the look Shadow had given me. It told me more about him then he had ever said before. I recognized it for what it was, encouragement and a complement at once. I smiled confidently, a new determination flowing through me, racing through my tired body and mind like the energy of the Chaos Emeralds. I stood straight and tall, walking back to the control room with a new spring in my step. There was no way someone was gonna blow up Mobius while we were around! I walked into the lab and began preparing for the battle. I knew that in space Sonic and Shadow were under a disadvantage. This fight would be a test of my skills. And I was determined to make an A+.

* * *

There you go Madhog! That one is for you. Sorry if you guys disapprove of the way the characters are developing, but this is the way the story will be. Also, the chapter plan for Part 1 has changed from nine chapters to ten. I just reached a good stopping point here so I'll just throw in an extra chapter after this one.

Incase you guys hadn't noticed, depending on what character I'm focusing on, the style changes. Like Tail's chapters will always be focused more on machines and clever devices than anything else. And they where pretty clever. Or at least I think so. Anyway, that's why I want reviews. I want you to tell me exactly what you think, and people, please try to make them more than one sentence long.

OOO! What happened to Shadow, and what has he discovered? Poor Tails is now famous, and is facing the dangers of being so. BEWARE THE FANGIRLS! XD This chapter sets the beginning for what will be happening to Shadow and Tails throughout the story, so I suggest you pay attention. The next chapter will have yet another character in it. AMY! Also, Cassy and Rouge will be back. I'll try to get it up soon, but I would rather take a long time to write something really good than to hurry and write something crappy. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm getting to bed now before anyone realizes I'm up. I just looked at the clock and did a double take. I've been at this for hours! Well, bye.


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